Counterfeit Sonnets July/August 2006 Stylophiles Online

By Bill Riepl

The Sonnet has been one of Parkers mainstay lines for over a decade. Launched in 1993, the Sonnet was seen as being Parkers "mid-level" pen, and was first advertised as being "The Writers Pen" Over the years, the line has expanded to include finishes ranging from sterling silver and Chinese Lacquer to simple and rugged stainless steel. Oh, and a whole host of counterfeits!

The counterfeit Sonnets first began showing up a few years ago, and quickly went form being rather easily spotted attempts to cash in on the Parker design to very sophisticated copies, the deception only discernible under very close examination. For an excellent look at the earlier Sonnet clones, take a look at this article by Antonios Zavaliangos on Pen Hero. These are another example of the counterfeiters making enormous efforts to produce a very well done fake! The current crop of fake Sonnets are good enough to fool even an expert pen buyer under the right circumstances.

Fortunately, those circumstances are not quite as likely to occur as with the Dupont fakes we examined in our last issue. For one thing, I am not aware of there being well done counterfeit packaging for the Sonnet fakes. With the Dupont counterfeits, there was plenty of reasonably well faked packaging and paperwork to help confuse the issue. All of the Sonnet counterfeits I have seen have been sold "without box", making it at least somewhat easier to eliminate a fake from your shopping list. Look for pens sold with proper Parker packaging to begin with, and you'll go a long way towards ensuring that your Sonnet is real.

We made a brief foray onto Ebay, and typed in "parker sonnet" into the search box.... Three pages of Sonnets. Now some were pretty obviously real Sonnets, but there were a host of pens being listed at .99 starting bid, no reserve, or a buy it now price of $9....

Something hinted to me that these possibly just might not be genuine! We bid on a couple, and won them at ridiculously low prices, (assuming that they were genuine Sonnets) In both cases, paying more for the shipping from England than for the pens.

When the pens arrived, I was able to pick one out as a fake right away. We had two "Sonnets" in hand, one a reddish brown banded lacquer finish with thin cap band, and a "Chiseled Tartan" finish. Either from a different maker, or perhaps from earlier production, the first of these was suppose to imitate the lacquer finish Sonnet that was the middle of the Sonnet lineup. They gave it the old college try, I'll say that, but the work is really not up to Parkers standards, that's for certain! The lacquer finish is not evenly applied, and has a slightly rippled texture to it.

This was the first and most obvious giveaway to this pens true origins. Another tip off was the very light engraving on the clip. On the genuine Sonnet, the feather accents on the clip are very distinct, on the counterfeit, they appear much lighter. In terms of overall size and shape, this was an exact match for an early lacquer finish Sonnet I have.

In that regard, the counterfeiters have done an excellent job. So good that the parts freely interchanged between the real and the counterfeit, caps, sections, and barrel could be swapped between them with each part fitting together perfectly. Along with the dimensions, the weight of the counterfeit matches the original. In terms of "feel", the weight, balance and shape of the section in the hand, these two pens were for all practical purposes indistinguishable from each other.

This carried over to the nib/feed unit as well. Pulling the nib and feed from the counterfeit revealed an almost exact copy of the real Sonnet nib and feed. As you can see from the close up photos, there's just not that much difference. A slightly thicker look to the fins, a flatter end to the lower end of the feed... Not much on which to make a call.

The nib proved to be the same story; and almost exact copy of the real Parker plated steel nib. The only real difference was a slightly heavier engraving style on the fake, other than that they are indistinguishable. If the counterfeit has what purports to be an 18K nib, there is a chance that you can differentiate it by checking the nib with a magnet. Obviously, a plated steel nib will be attracted to a magnet, a solid gold nib will not. However, as Antonios points out in his article, there are some alloys of stainless steel that won't be attracted by your magnet either. And guess what sort of steel these counterfeit nibs are made of?

Neither of the counterfeit nibs failed the "magnet test", and not because they are solid gold! A careful check for plating wear, and the color of the nib itself is the only way to tell the difference between these fakes and a real Sonnet nib. The real nib has a slightly less "bright yellow" tone to it than the fake on the lacquer finish pens, while on the Chiseled Tartan finish, the difference is even more noticeable, for reasons other than the quality of the fake. More about that in a moment.

The remainder of the detailing on the lacquer finish pen was more or less accurate. The side of the cap had the correct markings for a current production lacquer finish Sonnet, since this pen is patterned after the earlier model, with the narrow cap band, this is incorrect and an easy giveaway, assuming that the buyer knows the difference... If not, it's just another little touch making it harder to pick out a fake from the real thing!

The other pen we received is intended to represent one of the current Sonnet lineups high end models, the Chiseled Tartan. A very attractive pattern of lines forming a pattern of squares, the Chiseled Tartan Sonnet is a good looking pen. So is the counterfeit...

Telling the counterfeit apart from the real thing proved to be both easier and more difficult than with the lacquer finish counterfeit. Depending upon how well versed the buyer might be in the nuances of the Sonnet line, it either stands right out as a fake, or seems very much like the real thing!

The counterfeiters either went a little further on this version, or more likely it is simply the result of a later, more refined production. The Chiseled Tartan Sonnet comes complete with a hang tag, one that is almost identical to the real thing found on Parkers. The overall dimensions, like the lacquer version, are exactly true to the real Sonnet. Unlike the lacquer version, however, the parts proved not to be interchangeable with the real thing. The sections would interchange, but the caps would not close. Close, but not quite! On the other hand, from the outside, the pens appear to be exactly identical in terms of length, width, and even weight.

The engraving on the clip feathers are lighter than the real thing, and one very noticable point (at least on this specific example) was that the "Made In France" engraving on the back side of the cap band was off center. Definitely not the case with the real Parker! The engraved pattern on the counterfeit is good, but not quite an exact match for the real Chiseled Tartan Sonnet. Side by side it's pretty obvious which one is fake and which genuine. With the counterfeit by itself however, it's a good enough approximation of the pattern to hold it's own.

Removing the cap gives the only "easy" clue to the counterfeits true nature. Easy might be too strong a word, the nib is a very good copy of a Parker Sonnet 18K nib. However, it is the wrong Parker Sonnet 18K nib for this pen. The real Chiseled Tartan has a two tone nib, the counterfeit has a single tone nib. Assuming that the buyer knew this, and also assuming that they had the chance to see the nib before buying, it is an easy tip-off. For a buyer not up to date on the minutiae of Sonnet nibs, this nib looks good enough at first glance to pass inspection. Visually, the best indication is the slightly more "yellowish" color of lightly plated steel. Other than that, the markings are very close to the original. Right down to hallmarks assuring you that it really is ".750 18K". And I've got this nice bridge you can have cheap...

Both pens come complete with converters, which are, like the pens themselves, very close copies of the real thing. a few tiny differences, only noticeable if you've got them side by side with the genuine Parker products. The counterfeits are shorter by a hair, and the translucent plastic is a lighter shade than that used on the real converter. The length of the milled band at the end of the metal portion is slightly longer on the counterfeit, while the portion you turn is slightly shorter. In addition, the engraved Parker logo and name are slightly rougher than on the real converter. Nothing that leaps out at you unless you are making a close up side by side comparison.

So, we've established that these pens are very close copies, especially the Chiseled Tartan counterfeit. Given that, how much difference will you see in actual use?

Not much, as it turns out. The copies certainly function quite well. As was the case with the counterfeit Duponts, these pens, if they are considered strictly as pens, are actually quite good. Fit and finish are very good on both, with the exception of the slight rippled surface of the lacquer model. The nibs are also quite nice on both. The tipping material is large enough to provide a smooth "fine-ish medium" line, and the ink flow seems to hold up every but as well as the real Sonnet. In a "blind comparison" I couldn't tell the difference between the real Sonnet and the counterfeit.

I am guessing that the weak spot for these counterfeits will be in the plating, with the likelihood of wear showing up relatively soon being very high. The lacquer Sonnet I have on hand was bought used several years ago, and it's had some pretty rough treatment since then. The plating is still holding up perfectly on it, and I doubt very much that I'd be able to say the same for the counterfeits. I'm guessing that the finish on the lacquer version will also be less durable than that on the real thing. In this regard, you definitely will "get what you pay for".

It seems likely that Counterfeit Sonnets are here to stay, they've been around for several years now, and do appear to be getting better and better as time goes by. There is obviously enough of a market for them to keep production of these exact copies economically viable.

While I have been told that the largest market for these counterfeits is in the far east, where in a culture that esteems literacy, ownership of a Parker pen is seen as a status symbol, it is inevitable that many will make their way into the rest of the world. Not least through that great global market of Ebay. The best bet to avoid a counterfeit Sonnet when buying online or through Ebay is to look for one being sold by a reputable dealer, one sold with all factory packaging, and most of all, one that isn't being sold for $4.99!

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